Landfill tax 2025: What UK businesses need to know

17 October 2025 by CSG

The UK landfill tax was introduced in 1996 in order to better reflect the environmental costs of landfilling. The aim was both to reduce the overall levels of waste produced and to send less waste to landfill.

Landfill is typically viewed as a disposal option of last resort, due to environmental concerns. Recycling is more sustainable and cheaper for businesses, but not all waste can be recycled. Any rubbish your organisation sends to landfill will face unavoidable landfill tax.

What is landfill tax & what are the current rates?

Landfill tax is an extra environmental tax business must pay when disposing of any waste at a landfill site in the UK. It is added on top of any regular landfill fees and is charged by weight. The UK Government licenses all landfill sites and charges the tax for organisations to use them.

There are two landfill tax rates – a standard and a lower rate.

Landfill tax rates in the UK normally increase and update on 1 April each year. From 1 April 2025 the standard rate of landfill tax is £126.15 per tonne and the lower rate of landfill tax is £4.05 per tonne.

Current landfill tax rates for 2025 and recent landfill tax rates history for the previous two years in England and Wales are:

The lower rate applies to non-hazardous inert or inactive waste (such as metal, bricks, concrete, and glass). This waste is not biodegradable with a low polluting potential.

The standard rate is for all other taxable materials (such as general commercial waste, non-inert waste, and mixed waste).

Many items currently sent to landfill could be recycled. Together with the introduction of the Simpler Recycling legislation, these measures aim to reduce landfill use and promote more sustainable waste management – saving your business money in the process. 

Why landfill tax matters for businesses

The amount of landfill tax your business must pay ultimately depends on the weight of the waste disposed of by the operator handling your commercial waste disposal.

As a result, the less waste you generate, the less they receive for disposal, and the less they have to pay the government. In terms of actual transactions, your business will pay for this as part of its waste collection costs.

A large portion of the landfill tax revenues goes into funding the government’s general public spending. A smaller portion goes to fund environmental and community programs related to landfilling issues.

The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) enables landfill site operators to contribute money to organisations that carry out projects that benefit the communities and environments around landfill sites. The scheme is designed to offset some of the negative impacts of landfill operations by supporting various environmental and community projects.

The increase in landfill tax is not only a financial consideration, but motivation for companies to reassess and optimise their waste disposal routes.

Landfill tax changes are designed to encourage businesses to move away from landfill and adopt more sustainable waste management practices. The broader goal is to reduce environmental impact and promote environmentally friendly waste practices. 

How businesses can reduce waste sent to landfill

• Conduct a Waste Audit – Getting a free waste management audit from a company like us can help to reduce disposal costs, increase recycling rates and create new revenue streams from waste.

• Partner with a trusted waste management specialist – Working with an experienced provider like CSG allows you to review your waste streams, identify where most of your landfill waste originates, and set clear, measurable recycling and reduction goals.

• Have better segregation & recycling – Ensure recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, plastics, metals, and food waste are separated at source. This is especially important for businesses as the new “Simpler Recycling” legislation has come into force.

• Explore waste recovery and energy from waste opportunities – When recycling isn’t possible, energy recovery offers a more sustainable alternative to landfill. Materials can be converted into electricity or heat, reducing environmental impact while diverting waste from landfill sites.

Looking ahead

CSG is committed to reducing waste from landfill, and we aim to recover and recycle as much waste as possible. In 2024, only 15% of the waste sent to us was sent for disposal rather than recovered.

By working with us, businesses can avoid unnecessary landfill tax costs and improve their recycling performance. Our expertise ensures that more materials are given a second life rather than ending up in landfill.

At Safran Landing systems for example, we divert 98.72% of waste from landfill for them. You can read more about our work with Safran here.

Get in touch with CSG today to find out how we can help your business cut waste to landfill and protect against rising costs.